collections of short stories always strikes me as a profoundly unfair to approach the form. 99% of the time, short stories are organically complete unto themselves, not designed to be read as a segment of a collection. I always find it hard to review or discuss a collection as a book in its own right.

That disclaimer out of the way, short story ( Read more... )

I am at best a tentative fan of A.M. Homes. I was utterly entranced when I encountered The Safety of Objects; Homes has a genius for terse ironic humor that comes through at its best in short pieces like "A Real Doll," her infamous story of Barbie-doll date rape, or "Looking for Johnny," in which a kidnapper rejects the child he steals because it ( Read more... )

hello ( Read more... )